


Andros and Pants: A Cautionary Tale

by oneatatime



Category: Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 07:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19389841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneatatime/pseuds/oneatatime
Summary: Shenanigans occur when Zhane tries to help the Turbos date Andros.





	Andros and Pants: A Cautionary Tale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mcmeekin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcmeekin/gifts).



“You guys are all dating, right?” Zhane asked, eyes bright with interest. He’d been awake for a day and a half now. After two years in cryo he didn’t really wanna sleep ever again. Screw sleep. He wanted gossip. He took a bite of his apple and crunched loudly – with his mouth closed, he wasn’t an asshole – while he waited for a response. 

Carlos nodded shyly. “Yeah, for a while now. Been trying to get Andros involved, too.” 

“You what-?” 

A piece of apple lodged itself in his throat. He stood, wheezing, and smacked himself in the chest. Cassie leapt to her feet and pounded him on the back. Once. Twice. On the third time, the apple shifted itself and he was finally able to swallow. He near collapsed back on his seat, and wiped his streaming eyes on his sleeve.

Cassie rubbed his back, right where it was sore. All four of them were near as good as Andros at knowing exactly where he was hurting. Though to be fair, she was the one who’d pounded him there a few seconds earlier. She leaned over him, long hair swinging most becomingly. “Is it that bad if we all want to date Andros, too? You guys aren’t exclusive, are you?” 

Zhane shook his head, delighted and amused as hell, along with the sore. These poor people had no idea what they were in for. “Eh, if he wants to be with you, that’d be peachy. He could use more cheering up. He’s really amazingly stupid about this stuff, though. That’s all. I had to practically pin him to a wall... And one time when Seri was trying to… ah, never mind, that’s his story to tell. If he wants to.” 

Zhane reinforced the grin on his face, pushing away the shadow at the thought of Seri. She’d always been one of his favourite people, with a goofy sense of humour and a complete inability to stay mad at anyone for more than thirty seconds. But details about what passed between her and Andros were probably things that he should shut up about. The four of them already knew about their predecessors, and that was enough. Surely they did. Andros wouldn’t’ve kept all of it from them-? 

“Seri?” Carlos asked. His hair was becoming, too. What it was becoming, Zhane didn’t know, but it was glossy and dark and suited him. Carlos lifted the jug and refilled Zhane’s water. “Who’s Seri?” 

. . .Except Andros would’ve kept _everything_ from them, because his pain was his pain, and he deserved it, and how dare anyone give a damn about him. Andros hadn’t even told them about Zhane, had he. They’d only figured it out when he’d arrived and had dipped Andros to kiss him. Hell. 

Zhane rubbed his forehead. Suddenly he didn’t feel like finishing his lunch. They had another half hour before he had to take over from Andros on the bridge, and he had time to get started on this, at least. It was the first times that Andros had even let him out of his sight for more than five minutes (his possessiveness was both really sad and also really goddamn sweet of him), and so Zhane had to take this chance to start fixing things. 

“Seri was our previous Blue,” he began quietly, watching both their faces crinkle in sympathy as they realised who he was talking about. “She was a few years older than us, and dedicated to being a Ranger, but also real silly. She helped both of us adjust to fighting every day. She was like a big sister to Karone, too. Qol was Black, serious, not very chatty, but the way she smiled when he figured something out. . . Andana was Yellow. A sweetheart, nicest person you’ve ever met in your life, and his spin kick could near take your head off. And Pink was Talla. From Sirius initially. Kinda like the dogs you guys have on Earth, but blue scales instead of fur? She was so strong. In lots of ways. And she had the cutest tail.” 

He hated compressing these people’s lives to a couple quick lines. They should still be around. They deserved better. But that was the way it worked; when people died, you had to keep going. You could be sad about it, and you could cry when you had to, but you couldn’t fixate. Otherwise you turned into a pretty miserable guy with stripy hair. Also, a miserable, pretty, guy, with stripy hair, soooooo.

* * *

It was an uneventful bridge shift. Ashley, TJ, and Carlos came and went, and Cassie and Andros went off to train. Then DECA and Alpha took over, and all of them trotted off to do various repairs. 

An hour or so later, Zhane ambled into the cargo bay with his blaster, which hadn’t been firing quite right lately. Cassie was there, along with Carlos and Ash. Working on the air recyc. 

Footsteps. TJ, doing as much storming as Zhane’d ever seen from him. The guy wasn’t completely incapable of getting angry or anything, but he was one of the most levelheaded people he’d ever met in his life. So if TJ was stomping like that, something must be going on. Zhane watched with great interest, screwdriver twirling absently in the air next to him. 

“Andros is currently trying to find each of us more pants. Because _some_ one told him that we wanted his.” 

Carlos snort-laughed. Ashley had a hand over her mouth but that couldn’t disguise the giggle. 

Cassie put her hand up. “That was me,” she said, smiling from ear to ear. “He’s not very good at Earth sayings. I’ll go explain we have enough pants, Teej, don’t look like that.” 

“Of course he’s not very good at Earth sayings. He’s not from Earth,” Zhane said lightly. “One of you gonna tell me what it means?”

Cassie whispered in his ear. Zhane’s eyebrows went up, then up a little further, then up a whole lot further. 

* * *

Then, of course, there was an attack. Zhane smiled to himself when he saw, once again, just how well Andros fought with the four of them. They’d _done_ the work to get close to him, and that couldn’t’ve been easy. Andros was a good guy, not a project, and he would’ve made efforts too. But to actually get him to trust them beyond ‘I guess this person will step in to protect my back if I need it, and I’ll do the same to them’, that was huge. 

He ducked a kick, and somersaulted backwards between two trees. Felt like two years since he’d last really fought. This was fun. 

* * *

Back on board the Megaship afterwards, they were all gathered in sickbay. Nothing too serious. Andros needed his wrist wrapped, and Carlos had an ugly, but shallow slash down one calf. They all needed small bandages for various scrapes. That was all. 

Zhane strolled out of the bathroom and plonked himself down on the bed next to Andros, sneaking an arm around his back. 

“Zhane,” Andros said seriously. “Cassie said they want your pants, too.” 

Zhane looked from one face to the next. There were various forms of nodding, and he grinned back. “I guess Andros isn’t the only stupid one. Okay. That’d be awesome.”

They could talk about the exact details of which pants and so on later. He got derailed from that thought by a light(ish) punch to his shoulder. He reeled back, rubbing it. 

“Why am I stupid?” 

“Dropped on your head as a kid?” Zhane suggested helpfully, but then he saw the actual worry in Andros’ eyes, and he relented. “Andros. They want you. Romantically. They’re really bad at explaining and you’re really bad at listening. That’s what Cassie meant that time. It's, uh, 'in your pants'. Not 'your pants'.” 

He leaned in to kiss Andros lightly. 

“How is that related to pa-?”

He whispered in Andros’ ear, and watched as his eyebrows shot up incrementally. 

“Yeah, but like Cassie told me, it’s a metaphor, okay? The whole sex thing depends on what people feel like at the time. Doesn’t mean if you say yes that you have to be okay with sex every time, or even at all.” 

He looked around at TJ’s face. At Ashley. Carlos. Cassie, who made a face at him, crossing her eyes and sticking out her tongue. He grinned. 

Andros shifted, and Zhane brought his attention back to his best friend again. There was warmth and affection in his eyes, and in that small smile. Damn, he was so _gorgeous_ , Zhane nearly forgot to pay attention to what he said next. “…okay. That. Wow. That sounds kinda nice.”

“That’s your cue for a hug,” Zhane told them all, standing up. He’d have to talk to Andros later, in private. Talk about Seri and the others, and how Andros was really doing. But for now, he found himself hugged by all five of them, and kissed by at least three, which was awesome. “At least someone explained to poor Andros. Should’ve known I’d end up doing all the work.” 

_“Zhane!”_

And THAT was at least five hands shoving his head or ruffling his hair. 

He wailed piteously, “Not the hair!”


End file.
